Far-left Democrat Congressman Gil Cisneros (CA) allegedly violated federal insider trading and transparency laws by repeatedly failing to disclose as much as $900,000 in purchases, according to a U.S. House Transaction Report. The illegal purchases were first reported by NOTUS/Washington Sun.
The California liberal, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, was “days or weeks late revealing more than 50 individual trades,” notably those of defense contractors Palantir Technologies, Microsoft, Macom Technology Solutions, and SPX Technologies, according to newly-published financial disclosures.
Cisneros said to the same outlet in February he doesn’t manage his own stock trades. It was unclear if he has paid any fines for the illegal acts. Lawmakers in both parties have reportedly violated the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act’s disclosure provisions over the past year.
Breitbart senior contributor Peter Schweizer and the late Andrew Breitbart led the charge to ban members of Congress from using nonpublic information to profit themselves. The STOCK Act was signed into law in 2012, requiring members of Congress to report their personal stock and financial trades within 30 days of learning about the transaction along with a number of other transparency measures.
An additional measure that would go even further by banning members of Congress, their spouses, and their children from purchasing publicly traded stocks passed the House of Representatives in July.
That legislation was introduced by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, who said, “The American people deserve to know their Member of Congress is not profiting off insider information. The Stop Insider Trading Act ensures that cannot happen. This legislation is critical to restoring the public’s trust in their elected officials. If you want to trade stocks, go to Wall Street, not Capitol Hill.”
Republicans unanimously backed the bill in the House, while 198 Democrats voted against it. The bill currently awaits action in the U.S. Senate.
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